This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post Writers Group gives some excellent advice to President Obama. Obama told Congressional leaders not to listen to Rush Limbaugh. Parker points out that Obama has just been "baited by none other than the Master Fisherman," and that Obama is clearly showing a "lack of playground wisdom." Parker recommends that Obama might do well to "take a page from his predecessor's playbook: Never dignify your enemies with recognition."

That is so true, isn't it? I always marveled at George Bush's refusal to respond in kind to the ever-escalating hate-filled rhetoric of the little people who criticized him at every turn. Bush was a very disciplined man.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl. Today, the day before the big game, as many as seven people will be voted into the Hall of Fame. For me, today holds more interest. One of the possible inductees is Shannon Sharpe, who set many records playing tight end for our beloved Broncos, then was traded by Mike Shanahan to the Baltimore Ravens, where he got his third Super Bowl ring.

Shannon's brother Sterling was an NFL star for the Green Bay Packers, and was well on his way to becoming a Hall of Famer, until he suffered a career-ending injury. Shannon and Sterling were raised by their grandmother in the south Georgia woods. Every time it rained, it leaked through the tin roof of their house. Shannon used to get picked on by his older cousins, and he would go in and tell his grandmother. Grandmother, who will turn 87 in May, would tell Shannon, "It takes all that to make a man. Go back out there and play."

Shannon brought his infectious, joyous personality to the Bronco locker room,, often bringing smiles to the faces of thousands of loyal Broncos fans in post-game interviews. He wasn't a bad football player, either.

Friday, January 30, 2009

When you come to Colorado pulling a trailer filled with marijuana, you might want to make sure you don't sample any of the merchandise while driving. A man and woman crashed into a guardrail on I-25. State troopers found 587 pounds of marijuana, with a street value of $1000 per pound. I-25 is a major south-to-north avenue for drug and human smugglers to come up from Mexico, through New Mexico, to Denver, then branch out to locations east and west of Colorado.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Barack Obama said he would not allow earmarks in the stimulus bill. The bill includes almost $5,000,000,000 for Acorn, the organization that is under investigation for voter fraud all across the United States. This payback to people who worked so hard to get him elected is blatant. Did he think we would not notice?

The House version of the stimulus bill, passed last night, provides for $214,000,000,000 to create or save 330,400 government jobs. That implies that taxpayers would be asked to spend $646,214 per job, according to Allan Reynolds of the Cato Institute.

If I told you about a plan that would inject $545,000,000,000 of private sector money into the US economy in one year, would you be interested?

US companies pay a 35% tax rate to repatriate foreign subsidary earnings. Did you know that in 2004 Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act, which allowed US businesses to bring $360,000,000,000 of foreign subsidiary earnings back into the US at a reduced corporate tax rate of 5.25% for one year? A new study shows that if we did that again now it would inject $545,000,000,000 into our economy. An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal by Allen Sinai details all the many benefits such a plan would bring.

What makes me so sad is to realize that Barack Obama is so steeped in leftist ideology and the desire to obtain power to implement a socialist agenda, I don't know if there is a way to get him to consider allowing such a plan to be tried. He has so much talent; it is a shame to see it wasted.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

So now we don't refer to it as a murder, domestic violence, or child abuse; it is a poor guy who was distraught after losing his job. I refer to the California man who chose to kill his wife and kids.

Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is to see people treated as victims, thereby justifying whatever violent and abusive actions they choose to carry out. Therapists make this fatal mistake every day across America, empowering "victims" to wallow in their victimhood and victimize others. Stop it!

Nancy Pelosi argues that by funding contraception programs the federal government and state governments will have reduced costs. What? Human beings are the ultimate resource! Japan has realized this fact, and workers there are being encouraged to go home early and procreate! As usual, Nancy, you have got it wrong, dead wrong.

Obama's economic team is going to have to be very agile in the months and years ahead, according to a Wall Street Journal column yesterday by Marina Whitman. First, the focus needs to be on avoiding deflation; then on containing inflation. First, to prevent a near-total freeze in private lending, we need to bail out financial institutions; later we'll need to sell off the assets the bailouts bought up! First, consumers have to be enticed to increase spending; later, to restore long-term growth, Americans will have to increase their personal savings rate. First, we will have added $1.5 trillion to the government deficit; later, Obama will have to tackle entitlement reform and budget deficits. First, we need to maintain low interest rates by financing federal spending with foreign money; later, we'll have to lesson our reliance on financing from China, Saudi Arabia, and other countries.

Obama and his team will have to have "impeccable timing" in first accelerating, then hitting the brakes. Ms Whitman, who was an advisor to President Nixon, warns that there will be many curves in the road that will "put the new administration to the test."

William McGurn wrote yesterday in the Wall Street Journal that one of the parallels between JFK and Obama is that both attended Catholic schools as children. Catholic schools produce results in urban areas where public schools are failing miserably. The longer students remain in Catholic schools, the more they out-achieve their public school counterparts. They also have higher retention and graduation rates.

Unfortunately, America's Catholic schools are in the midst of a crisis: they no longer have the numbers of nuns, priests, and brothers who once supplied these schools with low-cost teachers. When Kennedy was President, more than 5,000,000 children were enrolled in Catholic schools. Now, less than half of that number are enrolled.

This is Catholic Schools Week. Simply by acknowledging Catholic schools as a treasure that ought to be preserved, Obama could give them a badly needed shot of publicity. Will he?

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Did you see the news item the other day noting that Mexico and Pakistan are each on the brink of becoming "failed states," because of each government's inability to control violence? Severed heads are turning up with regularity everywhere in Mexico. Drug cartels there "earn" more than $25 billion a year, and "repatriate" more than $10 billion a year in bulk cash into Mexico from the U.S.

Mexico produces 8 metric tons (a metric ton is 2204.6 pounds) of heroin a year, and 10,000 metric tons of marijuana a year. According to former U.S. drug czar General Barry McCaffrey, "90% of all U.S. cocaine comes in through Mexico," and "the dominant source of methamphetamine production for the U.S. is Mexico."

As Mary Anastasia O'Grady summarizes in her Wall Street Journal column yesterday, "if Mexico is at risk of becoming a failed state, look no further than the large premium the cartels get for peddling prohibited substances to Americans."

As my blogger friend Webutante has pointed out, it was the weak, unstable dollar that was a major factor producing our present financial difficulties. Worried about our trade deficit with China, our past Treasury Secretaries Snow and Paulson, along with Fed Chairmen Greenspan and Bernanke, allowed the dollar to weaken.

Bret Swanson writes in yesterday's Wall Street Journal that our new Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is continuing America's misunderstanding of China. In his Senate testimony he accused China of "manipulating" its currency to cause an imbalance of trade. Quoting Nobel laureate, China expert, Robert Mundell, Swanson writes that America should be focused on the stability of our own currency, rather than being so obsessed with the trade deficit.

Swanson is actually hopeful, though, that with Obama's appointment of "sound money advocate" Paul Volcker to his economic team, and with Mr. Mundel "plugged in to China," that we may yet see a revival of sound money in 2009 and beyond.

Here comes the bright ball of sunshine. Welcome!Lica joins some of the goats (on the other side of the fence) for a delicious morning meal.Fresh snow plus fresh sunshine equals another beautiful Colorado morning!

This is Flopsy, who was born yesterday. By nightfall, her ears were covered in ice and fresh falling snow, and she was still not able to stand up to nurse from her mother, so Colleen brought her in, nursed her, and covered her up next to a crackling fire in the fireplace. This morning, she is alive and well, and able to stand up to nurse from her mother! She is the seventh kid born in the last week.Last night when I got home it was below zero, and our furnace shut down. After a $497 parts and repair bill, we were back in business, and grateful to have heat!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Pine beetles have destroyed 400,000 acres of pine trees in Colorado's mountains in 2008. The infestation just keeps on growing. Why? Because temperatures do not get cold enough to kill them in the winter.

I know; I keep putting snow pictures on my blog, so you probably think we are under a frigid blanket of snow all winter! I do that because it is pretty. Every time it snows, I make sure to have that camera with me.

The truth is, Colorado is really a mild climate. Recently, we had January temperatures all week pushing the seventies, with bright blue skies and sunshine. Since 1996 the beetles have chomped up nearly 2,000,000 acres of pristine pine forest. People love to go skiing and hiking in the mountains, but now officials are cautioning people to use extra care, because of the risk of falling trees.

If we could get some really cold weather, I mean double digits below zero in the mountains, and have it last a week or two, it would kill the beetles. We are getting snow in the mountains again today. I promise to take pictures down here on the plains, where we are just getting frost.

As if all of the above is not bad enough news, Friday's Denver Post reported that a new study of otherwise healthy trees - undisturbed by logging, fire, or massive pest outbreaks - says that those trees are living only half as long as they once did. Temperatures in the forests have increased, which has led to more evaporation, less moisture, and severe drought. According to the study, the same patterns are being reported through British Columbia, California, and through the entire Rocky Mountain region.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

When Obama gave his inauguration speech Tuesday the stock market plunged 332 points, the worst Inauguration Day sell-off in 113 years. No longer the candidate, who freely criticized President Bush, Obama must now come up with solutions to problems the country is facing. Obama seems to think that increased government spending is what is needed to get the economy humming again. What about providing incentives for people and businesses to produce and work? What about failing banks and their toxic assests? While you are at it, will you please explain to me why my children and grandchildren will have to be saddled with these debts of these irresponsible banks?.

Does anyone remember what it was like at the White House before George and Laura Bush? There was a guy who pursed his lips and wagged his finger as he lied to the nation on television, asserting he did not have "sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." You could not believe anything Bill or Hillary Clinton said, no matter how sincere they attempted to look, while saying it. I have not seen this mentioned by anyone in the closing days of the Bush White House. I guess we prefer the guy who can communicate well, even if he knows he is bulls---ing us.

Here is a more substantial tribute to President Bush by Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal. I like Karl Rove. When asked by Sean Hannity about Obama's changes in the War on Terror, such as closing Gitmo and using the Army Field Manual to interrogate terrorists, Rove replied about Obama's team, "They're winging it; and you don't wing it when you are fighting a war."

Bush's methods were working; we are winning the war in Iraq, completely humiliating al-Qaeda. If the tactics you are using are successful, you don't drop them to please your left-wing base. Bush kept us safe. Obama is taking a huge gamble; that if we play nice, the terrorists will play nice. If the gamble is unsuccessful, Obama will be history, and so will our country.

There have been many studies in recent years that show that conservatives are much more generous in giving gifts to charity than people who idntify themselves as liberals or progressives. Employees of major charities, though, favor Democrats over Republicans in their private political contributions 82% to 18%. Among employees of major foundations, the difference is an astounding 98% to 2%! These figures were reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy in October, 2008. They are cited in a January 22 article in the January 22 Wall Street Journal by Arthur C. Brooks.

One of five Executive Orders President Obama signed in his first three days in office pertained to the closing of the prison for terrorists in Guantanamo Bay. Rush Limbaugh has had a lucrative side-business selling "Club Gitmo" merchandise, and now Obama has "thrown him a curve ball." Is Rush whining? Is he filing a lawsuit? No! He realizes the market has changed, so he now has a new logo, a swimming pool with a diving board (get it? water, board), and the words "When America Was Safe" will be added to each tee-shirt, hat, and other merchandise.

Anybody got an idea of where we can put the prisoners, mostly from Yemen, who are still at the Guantanamo prison that Obama signed an Executive Order to close? Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter wants to bring some of them here to Colorado's supermax prison in Florence. Congressman Doug Lamborn, whose district includes Florence, doesn't want them here, or anywhere else on American soil.

One prisoner who has already been freed, Said Ali al-Shihu, is back in Yemen, where he has been promoted as deputy=leader of al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch. He is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen in September.

By the way, in case you are keeping score, here is the number of Executive Orders filed by recent presidents in their first three days in office:Ford 0Carter 1Reagan 0Bush Sr. 0Clinton 1Bush Jr. 0Obama 5

How unusual were the shenanigans of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich? A partner in a prominent Washington-based political consulting firm is among those secretly recorded discussing ways Blagojevich can cash in on President Obama's former Senate seat. The firm has represented dozens of Democratic governors and members of Congress. Blagojevich just happened to have the bad luck that federal prosecutors were secretly taping his conversations. Just one more guy Obama only had innocent, fleeting contacts with, along with Rezko and Ayres.

In the city and in the country, on this 36th anniversary of Roe V. Wade, new life is being celebrated today.Good mammas always stay close to their babies.These cuties were born yesterday. Their mamma is doing a good job. Two boys and a girl.There is a big world out there, my little ones.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

There follows on page 16A an Associated Press story about how candidates feel safe enough to campaign and debate issues ranging from housing shortages (because so many Iraqies are returning to their country now that it is safe to do so) to the need to attract foreign investments.

14,431 candidates are vying for 444 seats on provincial councils in all but four of Iraq's 18 provinces. Nearly 3 of every 4 Iraqies plan to vote, which is, of course, way higher than election turnouts in America.

Remember how the big-mouth Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joe Biden, used to disparage the "hopeless civil war" in Iraq? Remember how the AP, Denver Post, and most other major newspapers used to barrage us daily with doomsday scenarios regarding Iraq?

What happened? Did we actually defeat the terrorists in Iraq? George Bush and Dick Cheney were villified by the media and the Hollywood celebrities month-after-month, year-after-year. Bush and Cheney are gone now, so it's now time to write about things going well in Iraq?

William McGurn wrote yesterday in the Wall Street Journal:

"There are those who will never forgive Mr. Bush for not losing a war they had all declared unwinnable. On the night Mr. Bush announced the surge, Barack Obama said, "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse." Three months after that, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pronounced the war in Iraq "lost." These comments were amplified by a media echo chamber even more absolute in its sense of hopelessness about Iraq and its contempt for the president."

Obama spent the day before the inauguration doing worthwhile things. First, he visited 14 veterans, injured fighting for our country in Iraq and Afgghanistan, who are now at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Later, he grabbed a paint roller and helped volunteers who were fixing up rooms at a facility for homeless teens. "We can't allow any idle hands. Everybody's got to be involved," he said.

I like his emphasis on involvement and personal responsibility. I have a feeling that Obama will be an inspiration to a lot of blacks, young people, and others who would never consider voting for a Republican. Since Obama has their ear, I believe he will not sanction sloth or irresponsibility. I believe he will tell young men to take care of their families. I hope he will encourage young women not to be content with making themselves nothing more than sex toys for young men. If he accomplishes these things, it will be great for America.

It took a conservative, Richard Nixon, to open up relations with China. A liberal Democrat, Barack Obama, will have the best chance to tame the Social Security and Medicare lions that are about to eat us. It will take a liberal Democrat to inspire those who have been dropping out of schools and living off of taxpayers to get motivated and moving to take advantage of opportunities to make something of themselves.

Do you need another reason to want Obama to succeed? Try this one. Here is the presidential line of succession: If we lose Obama, we get Joe Biden; if we lose Biden, we get Pelosi, if we lose Pelosi, we get Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the former Klan honcho. Hang in there, Barack!

I admit I got caught up emotionally in the historic nature of the inauguration. Historic, because American elected a person with chocolate-colored skin. Historic because of what was "overcome" to enable us to get to that day. Historic because many blacks who fought for this country in World War II came home to a country that did not allow them to vote, to eat in restaurants, to live where they wanted to live.

On the day of Obama's birth, August 4, 1961, one county in Mississippi had 2,490 black residents, but no blacks registered to vote. Also on that day, police in Shreveport, Louisiana arrested black Freedom Riders who broke the law by entering a waiting room set aside for whites at a Trailways bus depot!

Yesterday Obama talked about security. Security is the number one consideration for me in voting for a president. Obama said something about security emanating from how nice we are, how just we are.

Driving to work yesterday, I listened to Dennis Prager, who was dissecting the speech line-by-line. He said that what Obama said about security is flat-out false. In fact, the more just we are, the nicer and gentler we are, the more likely we are to be hit by terrorists who are not nice or gentle or just.

This is not a time for naivety! We are supposed to believe that Obama is reality-oriented. I surely hope he understands the reality of the threat of terrorism to this great nation.

I turned on the radio just as Pastor Rick Warren began his invocation. After a few sentences, Laura Ingraham went to a commercial! I flipped around the dial, and the only station that was carrying Warren was the local lefty station! I heard the rest of his prayer, then sat down to listen to Aretha Franklin. She was just getting her soul into it, when the jerk from ABC talked over her, explaining in great detail what was happening. I was furious!

Barack Obama, unlike Speaker Pelosi, seems to want to focus on the future, not the past. Pelosi still wants to fight Bush and criminally prosecute him and all Bush administration officials who have kept us safe for the last seven years. It looks like Barack's biggest problems in Washington, like President Bush before him, will come from having to deal with Obama's fellow Democrats like Pelosi!

Because of the war on terror and the worldwide recession, two of Obama's cabinet picks take on more importance: Treasury Secretary and Attorney General. There are huge problems with the two people Obama has picked.

On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee considers Timothy Geithner for Secretary of the Treasury. As head of Treasury, Geithner would be over I.R.S. From 2001-2004 Geithner worked at the International Monetary Fund, and failed to pay $34,000 in taxes! He was audited by the I.R.S. in 2006, and was required to pay $15,000 in back taxes for 2003-2004. Earlier, he had been required by the International Monetary Fund to sign a document stating he was responsible for paying $2,364 in 2001 and $16, 812 for 2002. Not until Barack Obama expressed his intent to nominate him for Secretary of Treasury did Geithner pay those 2001-2 taxes, plus interest.

Of course, Geithner should do the right thing and withdraw his nomination. If not, at least he will provide the rest of us with some good excuses and alibis!

Obama's nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder, testified last week in his confirmation hearing that "waterboarding is a crime." That statement, of course, may put in jeopardy many military and intelligence officials and their attorneys. In additon, Obama and Holder want to close down Guantanamo prison. President Bush used military commissions to try the vicious terrorists detained there. Military commissions permit the use of evidence that would not be allowed in civilian courts. Holder advocates using civilian courts. Some of the evidence America has collected against these detainees was collected in a war zone, or by using classified interrogation methods, without advising the dear little terrorists of their rights.

The protection of our means and methods for gathering classified information would be put at risk, if our military had to follow rules of civilian courts.

Thank you, President Bush, for commuting the sentences of border agents Ramos and Compean. I wish you would have given them a full pardon, but at least you got them back to their families in March. Now go on back down to Texas. I pardon you.

What is Martin Luther King's legacy? I think it was his determination to haveus live up to the words in the Declaration of Independence; that our rights are derived from God, not from government; that all humans have worth and dignity and deserve to have freedom of opportunity to reach their potential.

I am also glad that he stressed the importance of the content of our character, not the color of our skin. Like all of us, Dr. King had some character issues, himself.

Barack Obama benefited from the accomplishments of Dr. King and the others who pushed our country to live up to its founding Declaration. We all have. Let's pray on this Inauguration Day that we will all have the courage to trust God to enable us to develop character and to uphold the ideals this country was founded on. Obama and the American citizens will also need the determination and wisdom to fight those who would destroy this country and its ideals.

As of September, The New York Times had $46,000,000 in cash, but owed over $1,000,000,000 in debt. I'll bet they have much less in cash today. They are having a board meeting nest week to consider their situation. They are trying to convince a Mexican billionaire to invest in them. His name is Carlos Slim Helu, and he is allegedly the world's second richest man.

My beloved wife is happy as a clam this morning. She is on her way to pick up something she has always wanted: a trailer to pull behind her van! For only $100! I asked her where are we going to put it. She didn't know right offhand. I asked, "How about next to the canoe?" She replied, "Yes, that's a great idea; that was only $100, too!"

Monday, January 19, 2009

Have you ever seen couples fighting in the supermarket line? It is startling, and extremely unpleasant; almost as unpleasant as seeing an adult scream at a child. Yesterday I witnessed a fight between a man and a woman. There was nothing she could do that would please him. He closely examined everything she put on the conveyor belt. The last item on the belt was a package of Oreos. That was the last straw.

"We don't need Oreos," he shouted at the top of his voice in utter exasperation.She immediately, firmly replied, "Yes. WE. Do."

Yesterday I was talking to a woman about how much I enjoy the military jets from nearby Buckley Air Force Base. The jets come flying low over our farm, then head back into Buckley.

The woman told me about an email she got from a friend in Phoenix. She sent it to me. It concerns a letter-to-the editor a man wrote in Phoenix, complaining about four jets from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona flying low over the man while he was at Arrowhead Mall in Phoenix. The man sarcastically asked if these "Tom Cruise wanna-bes thought local residents needed a wake-up call at 9:11 A.M., or were they just trying to impress the clerks at Mervyns?" The man asked for a response.

Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr. gave him a response. The four officers flying the jets were honoring a fellow officer who was killed in Iraq fighting for our freedom. He was being buried that morning. After the rifle salute, the playing of taps, and the presentation of the flag of the USA to the widow, the "pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives" on behalf of fellow officer Captain Fresques.

Rosensteel concluded his response by informing the man that "only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you...Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom."

Saturday, January 17, 2009

President Bush gave a farewell address to the nation Thursday night, stressing what is good about America. He invited about 40 heroes to attend the speech, the first time a president has done it for a farewell address.

The President reminded us that good and evil are present in the world, and "between the two, there can be no compromise." Is there any doubt that this president "always acted with the best interests of our country in mind?

And, yes, Mr. President, "America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil." Part of the reason for that, Mr. President, is due to the hard work and courage of border agents like Ramos and Compean. Pardon them, Mr. President, and it will be much easier for us to pardon you for the mistakes you made while trying to protect our best interests.

I fear that some of you readers may get tired of me writing that "David Harsanyi has written another great column." But, he has.

This one is on "climate change (formerly known as global warming)." Harsanyi writes

"The carbon footprint of Barack Obama's inauguration could exceed 575 million pounds of CO2. According to the Institute for Liberty, it would take the average U.S. household nearly 60,000 years of naughty ecological behavior to produce a carbon footprint equal to the largest self-congratulatory event in the history of mankind."

The sun is rising. Let's go see what is happening in the barnyard.The hens are eating the barley/hops grain.The alpacas are eating their alfalfa hay.And, here is our newest. He is a holstein/angus steer named Spot. Many more pictures of Spot to come!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

What is all this stuff sun-drying on our back porch? "Spent grain" from a brewery. There are 106 breweries in Colorado. Most along the populated front range of the Rockies. I think Colleen called all of them, but they all already had contracts with farmers to pick up the spent grain. Finally, she found one up in the mountains and contracted with them to pick up the spent grain every week. We are going to have some happy goats, and I think she even has in mind a plan for a cow. Stay tuned.

"Daddy, I have to talk to you about something that isn't very important!"Okay, Sara, but you do seem to be pretty upset about this thing that isn't very important.""Well, Jon and Greg each got a package of Fruit Foots to take to school with them this morning, and I didn't get any!""Look! There are hardly any left!""I'll just take this one. Okay, Daddy?"

The Treasury Secretary nominee has trouble remembering to pay his taxes. Not just once, but for several years, even though his employer sent out reminders! "It is a common mistake," and, he is the only one who can figure out how to spend TARP money?

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I learned a lot about life from playing the game of golf as a teen and young adult. Probably the biggest thing I learned was not to get caught up in prolonged elation when things were going well, or too down-in-the-dumps when things didn't work out as I had hoped. Just keep plugging along, with mental reasoning faculties in control of impulsive emotional reactions.

When I was sixteen-years-old, I qualified to play in the National Junior Golf Championship, which was played that year in a suburb of Washington D.C. It was Match Play, which means you play against one other person.

My first match paired me against the city champion of Cincinnati, Ohio. We flipped a coin to see who would hit first. He won the coin toss, and proceeded to hit the ball far down the fairway. Then, instead of waiting for me to hit, he and his caddy charged off down the fairway, as if I didn't exist! I was the only person in the tournament who carried his own bag. What, I'm sixteen-years-old, and can't carry my own bag? Give me a break!

This guy continued to ignore me all the way around the golf course, so I played very deliberately (slowly!), and won the match.

The next day I lost my match to the city champion of Seattle, Washington. We were tied coming into the final hole. I had a short putt to tie him. In those days the rules of amateur golf prohibited players from fixing divots before putting. There was a large, unrepaired divot between my ball and the hole. After "reading" the green, I determined that if I putted around the divot, I would miss the hole; so, I putted staight to the hole, and the divot caused my ball to careen to the side of the hole, and I lost the match.

When the tournament was over, I got a cool tour of our nation's capital, since I had one aunt who was the secretary to the Secretary of the Army, and another aunt who was secretary to a U.S. Senator. The tour included a civil rights debate in the Senate, the White House, the Pentagon, and, of course, the Smithsonian.

I returned to my home in Iowa the same way I traveled to D.C.: all by myself on a train. It was a very cool experience.

I did go to college on a golf scholarship, but was never good enough to play on the pro tour, and did not want to be a country club pro. After becoming a born-again Christian, I got interested in a career in social work, and haven't played golf in over thirty years! Nevertheless, I learned a lot from the game of golf.

Don't you love Dick Cheney? Determined to take stands supporting our troops and our intelligence officers, he and the president have been willing to endure unpopularity to protect our country. Remaining steadfast on detaining terrorists at Gitmo, surveillance of terrorist communications, and "enhanced interrogation" of terrorists, Cheney and Bush have taken the heat, while our troops and intelligence officers have done what they need to do to protect us.

Let's hope Obama and his clown, V.P. Biden, do not undo all of that, and make us vulnerable once again to attack.

There is a wonderful essay/cover story in the Saturday/Sunday January 10-11 2009 Wall Street Journal about U.S. Presidents as writers. The best? Abraham Lincoln. The best since Lincoln? Barack Obama.

I have not read Obama's Dreams from My Father yet, have you? I guess I will see if I can put a hold on it at the local library. The author of the Wall Street Journal piece is Jonathan Raban. Raban describes Obama's writing in Dreams as "meticulously observant realism." He also describes Obama as a pragmatist with a "watchful eye and patiently attentive ear;; a proper humility in the face of the multiplex character of human society; and most of all, a belief in the power of the writer's imagination to comprehend and ultimately reconcile the manifold contradictions in his teeming world."

Wow! If there is consistency between Obama's instincts as a writer, and his performance as president, that might bode well for him, and hopefully, for America. As my fellow bloggers know, writers have to think about things before putting words on paper. Obama is quoted by Raban in Dreams as saying, "My solitude was the safest place I knew." Raban says, "The "I" of his book is a vigilant listener and watcher, a hoarder of contingent details, who hugs observations to himself, then broods on them day and night. Three o'clock in the morning is a recurring theme in Dreams, the hour at which patterns reveal themselves, resolutions are made, and the reader enjoys the illusion of unhindered intimacy with the author."

I thought that last statement was interesting, since so many people seem to feel they have an "unhindered intimacy" with Obama. He encouraged people to attach their "hopes and dreams" on his candidacy. He put Saul Alinsky's concepts to work for himself, although Alinsky's concepts were meant to organize and benefit communities, not the organizer. Obama also got in bed with the far left, who will be pushing him to implement their agenda of dismantling the war on terror, promoting gay marriage, amnesty for illegals, and environmental whackoism.

Hillary Clinton is under oath today! Do you suppose they will ask her about Bill's hundreds of millions of dollars from the Saudis? Will she tell them about sniper fire in Bosnia? Nah, I must be day-dreaming.

About Me

"Even in brutality and sorrow, beauty often shines brightest in the soul brave enough to deny evil a foothold. It is the theme of redemption, the symphony of resurrection."
The above is from a blogger named Jewel.